← 28 September 2026's Current Affairs · Polity GS-3 Prelims ★★★★☆ Mains ★★★★★
Supreme Court to hear plea against UPI MDR charges
खबर में क्यों?
Who actually runs UPI? A Supreme Court MDR case puts NPCI's role on trial
The Supreme Court is hearing a challenge to the imposition of Merchant Discount Rate charges on high-value UPI transactions.
Why it matters: GS-3 core; factual, Prelims-type
What you need to know
2 मिनट
A plea challenging the imposition of a Merchant Discount Rate (MDR) — the fee merchants pay payment service providers — on Unified Payments Interface (UPI) transactions above ₹2,000 came up before the Supreme Court.
UPI transactions have so far been kept MDR-free to encourage adoption of digital payments, a policy administered jointly by the Reserve Bank of India and the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), which operates UPI.
The case tests how far a zero-charge digital-payments framework built for financial inclusion can be altered.
स्रोत: Topper IAS editorial (PIB / The Hindu / Indian Express)
मुख्य तथ्य
Remember these
- MDR (Merchant Discount Rate) is the fee merchants pay payment service providers
- UPI transactions have so far been kept MDR-free to encourage digital payments adoption
- The plea challenges MDR on UPI transactions above ₹2,000
- UPI's MDR-free policy is administered jointly by the RBI and NPCI
- NPCI (National Payments Corporation of India) is the entity that operates UPI
प्रीलिम्स · मेन्स
How the exam will ask it
प्रीलिम्स
- The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) operates UPI, not the RBI.
- UPI transactions have been kept free of Merchant Discount Rate to promote financial inclusion.
- A Supreme Court plea challenges the imposition of MDR on UPI transactions above ₹2,000.
मेन्स
GS Paper 3 - Economy: UPI's MDR-free framework, jointly administered by the RBI and NPCI, has been central to India's digital payments and financial inclusion push, but the Supreme Court challenge tests whether this zero-charge model can be altered for high-value transactions. The outcome carries implications for merchant costs, bank/NPCI revenue sustainability, and continued digital payments growth, requiring a balance between fee viability and adoption incentives going forward.
Quick recall
Answer before you reveal
The Unified Payments Interface (UPI), at the centre of a recent Merchant Discount Rate dispute before the Supreme Court, is operated by which organisation?
- Reserve Bank of India
- National Payments Corporation of India
- Institute for Development and Research in Banking Technology
- Controller General of Patents, Designs and Trade Marks
उत्तर देखें
उत्तर: B — Correct: National Payments Corporation of India - the not-for-profit entity that develops and operates UPI. • Reserve Bank of India - wrong: regulates and oversees NPCI but does not itself operate UPI. • Institute for Development and Research in Banking Technology - wrong: a banking-technology research institute, not a payments operator. • Controller General of Patents, Designs and Trade Marks - wrong: handles IP registrations, unrelated to payment systems.
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